IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD…
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Matthew 4:1-11
"Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted by the devil."
"Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil," and with those words Matthew leads us into this first Sunday of Lent—a season of searching— deep searching to understand why this Jesus—the Son of God—would do such a thing as put on the flesh of humanity so that humanity could one day put on the garments of God’s grace.
Every year we come to this story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. We know the story so well: Jesus fasted for forty days and nights; he faced the devil at the end of that time; he was famished and fatigued; yet he sent the devil away defeated and empty handed. He passed every test.
We prayed a little while ago that God would not lead us into temptation, yet how often do we find ourselves facing temptation, and more than that, if we can be honest with ourselves, many of us have failed the test from time to time. Does God not hear our prayer?
I have a friend who always asks, when something weird occurs or something goes wrong, "How’d that happen?"
So, how’d that happen… that God sent his son by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil? If Jesus was the Son of God, after all, wouldn’t you presume that he was good to go just as he was?
What is it about temptation that warrants testing? The thing about temptation is that the test is really about something much deeper than what appears on the surface.
The temptations Jesus faces aren’t really about bread, pinnacles and kingdoms. They are actually about true obedience to God because one absolutely trusts that God will do what God has promised to do.
Trust is also the foundation of human relationships. Without trust in a relationship, nothing else in that relationship has much to stand on.
When we test that trust, in other words, succumb to temptation, we are sending ourselves into a personal wilderness—spiritually a very dangerous place to be. Temptation is the devil’s territory; Jesus handled Satan to show us how to stand strong when evil attempts to lead us away from trusting in God.
Satan delights in destroying our ability to trust. He knows just how to make us question what God says. In the Genesis passage, the serpent asks, "Did God really say…" the
technique was so successful with Eve in Eden that the devil uses it again with Jesus in the wilderness.
"Did God really say… that YOU are the Son of God? What kind of father lets his son be hungry? If you are the Son of God, take matters into your own hands; turn these stones into bread. Feed yourself."
Certainly Christ had the power to turn stone into bread, but if he did so, he would be obedient to the devil and not to his father’s will. It was not the right time for people to know that Jesus was the Messiah. As Jesus said, he would rely only on every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.
God’s word clearly stated that the Son must first suffer and then be glorified. In obedience to God, Christ would never accept the crown before he bore the cross. The devil could not make him do it!
The deeper temptation for us is to accept the glory and skip the gory. It’s so much faster and neater that way. But life is not always swift and clean, is it. This temptation episode teaches us to accept God’s plan for our lives according to God’s purpose and not our preferences. That’s how we learn to trust God through faith.
So Satan used God’s word to tempt Jesus into testing his trust in his Father. "If you are the Son of God," Satan said, "throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple. Did God not say that he will command his angels to bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone?"
The deeper temptation is to choose our own timing over God’s plan. That’s disobedience; that’s not trusting God to do what God promised he would do when the time is right. For God to work out his plan for our lives, we have to be willing to trust that God’s timing to be perfect. Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Satan finally has the audacity to offer Christ all the kingdoms of the earth on his own terms, as if Satan were the rightful lord over them all. "Even if you are the son of God, bow down and worship me and I will give you all the kingdoms of the earth in an instant. Martin Luther was outraged by the devil’s insinuation: "He is claiming to be God himself!"
Jesus holds his own with Satan; he remains obedient to God to the ends of the wilderness. Jesus trusts his father’s word, his father’s will, and most of all, his father’s claim on him.
Jesus has come not to rule Satan’s kingdom but to proclaim the reign of God. Jesus is patient. He waits upon the Lord, because the promise is that after the resurrection, Jesus will receive all authority in heaven and on earth, but it will be God’s gift and not Satan’s seduction.
Jesus, the Beloved, truly is the "Son of God." There’s no "if" about him. The Son of God is not concerned with privilege or power or personality. To be a Son—or Daughter—of God
we use the gifts God has set before us: the strength to be obedient to his word and the faith to trust that God will surely do what God has said he would do.
This Lent, let’s have a new beginning in our life together, let’s worship the Lord our God and serve only him. It’s the best protection against falling into temptation—and it lessens the chance we’ll be asking, "How’d that happen?"
The very best way to carry our crosses into God’s glory is to be obedient to him, and trusting of him, at all times. Amen.
March 9, 2014 FPFC South Berwick, ME/ Rev Donna Lee Muise, Pastor
